The Consumer Rights Act 2015

Question 1

Part I of the Act applies to contracts to supply goods, digital content or services between?

Answer 1

a trader and a consumer

Question 2

A ‘consumer’ is defined as

Answer 2

an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession

Question 3

A ‘trader’ is defined as

Answer 3

a person acting for purposes relating to that person’s trade, business, craft or profession, whether acting personally or through another person acting in the trader’s name or on the trader’s behalf

Section 2(4) provides that, where a trader claims that an individual was not acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside the individual’s trade, business, craft or profession, then it is for the trader to prove it.

Question 4

Contracts between a consumer and a business entered into prior to 1 October 2015 are governed by?

Answer 4

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 or the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

Question 5

The cornerstone rights implied in a consumer sale of goods are that:

Answer 5

(a) Goods should be of a satisfactory quality (s 9);
(b) Goods should be reasonably fit for any purpose which the consumer makes known to
the trader that the consumer intends to use the goods for (s 10); and
(c) Where goods are sold by description the goods should match that description (s 11).

Question 6

In line with the provisions for consumer goods, the implied terms are that the digital content:

Answer 6

(a) Should be of satisfactory quality (s 34);
(b) Should be reasonably fit for purpose (s 35); and
(c) Should match any description of it given by the trader to the consumer (s 36).

Question 7

The statutory rights of a consumer under a services contract

Answer 7

(a) That the service is performed with reasonable care and skill (s 49);
(b) That (where a price has not been agreed) a reasonable price is to be paid (s 51); and
(c) That (where a time has not been fixed) the service is provided in a reasonable time (s
52).

In addition, s 50(1) also provides that anything that is said or written to the consumer, by or on behalf of the trader, about the trader or the service is to be included as a term
where it is taken into account by the consumer (a) when deciding to enter into the contract or (b) when making any decision about the service after entering into the contract.

Question 8

Where the goods are non-conforming, there are three remedial options available to the consumer, namely:

Answer 8

(a) The short term right to reject
(b) The right to repair or replacement
(c) The right to a price reduction or the final right to reject.

Question 9

the short term right to reject is available to the consumer for 30 days running from the time

Answer 9

(i) that ownership has passed (or, in the case of contracts for hire or the like, possession has been transferred) and (ii) the goods have been delivered and (iii) in cases where the trader is required to install the goods or to take other action to enable the consumer to use the goods, the trader has notified the consumer that the
required steps have been taken (s 22)

Question 10

The right to repair or replacement is available unless repair or replacement is either
impossible or disproportionate

Answer 10

CRA s 23

Question 11

The consumer is not entitled to both a price reduction and final rejection

in either case, the remedy may only be exercised where: (a) after one repair or one replacement, the goods do not conform to the contract; or (b) the consumer can require neither repair nor replacement of the goods (because it is impossible or disproportionate); or (c) the consumer has required the trader to repair or replace the goods, but the trader is in breach of the requirement to do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer.

Answer 11

CRA s 24

Question 12

s 24(10) provides that the general rule is that, where the final right to reject is exercised within 6 months, there should be a full refund with no deduction for use

but this does not apply to motor vehicles or any other
goods that may be specified by statutory order.

Question 13

Finally in relation to contracts for goods, consumers cannot treat the contract as at an end as a result of a breach of a term implied by ss 9, 10 or 11

Answer 13

So in one sense, the implied terms are neither conditions or warranties

Question 14

S 42 provides that, where the digital content is non-conforming in breach of the terms
implied by ss34, 35, 36, two remedial options are available

Answer 14

1. The right to repair or replacement (s 43)
2. The right to price reduction. (s 44)

s 42(9) provides that ‘digital content which does not
conform to the contract at any time within the period of 6 months beginning with the day
on which it was supplied must be taken not to have conformed to the contract when it
was supplied.’

Question 15

s 45 gives the consumer the right to receive a refund of all money pay for the digital content. A refund must be given within 14 days.

Answer 15

The trader must give a refund using the same payment method that the consumer used to pay for the digital content, without imposing any fee in respect of the refund.

Question 16

section 46, where (a) a trader supplies digital content to a consumer under a contract, (b) the digital content causes damage to a device or to other digital content, (c) the device or digital content that is damaged belongs to the consumer, and (d) the damage is of a kind that would not have occurred if the trader had exercised reasonable care and skill

Answer 16

then the consumer is entitled to repair or to a compensatory payment.

Question 17

Section 54 provides that, where the services are non-conforming in breach of the term implied by ss 49 (reasonable care and skill), there are two remedial options available to the consumer

Answer 17

(a) The right to require repeat performance; and
(b) The right to a price reduction.

s 55(2)(a) requires the supplier to provide the repeat performance within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer (s 55(4) offering the usual
guidance on what, for this purpose, is reasonable and significant), and s 55(3) states that the consumer cannot require repeat performance if completion in conformity with the contract is impossible.

Question 18

According to s 56(3), a price reduction becomes available only where repeat performance is impossible or where the trader has failed to provide repeat performance within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer.

Question 19

Where the services are non-conforming in breach of the term implied by ss 52 (performance within a reasonable time) the remedial option is the** right to a price reduction**.